Mennonite Historical Library of the Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Chicago, Illinois, was begun by Abraham Warkentin, the first president of the institution, who was intensely interested in the matter and had previously served as collector for the Historical Committee of the General Conference. Coming to the Seminary in 1945 he brought much historical material and continued gathering. The largest quantity of material in the beginning came from the collection of the Mennonite Historical Association made by such men as H. R. Voth and H. P. Krehbiel, which had been gathered at Newton, Kansas, and stored in the H. P. Krehbiel vault. This provided sets of early church periodicals as well as books and pamphlets of interest. Noteworthy items were also contributed from duplicate items in the Bethel College Historical Library. Duplicate files at Bluffton College provided a large supply of church periodicals. Continued additions to the library were financed from certain memorial funds and a grant of $200 given annually after 1952 by the General Conference Historical Committee for the acquiring of research material in the field of Mennonite literature.

The Historical Library was located in a fireproof vault on Seminary property with convenient arrangements for access and study. The accessions at 1955 numbered 1,560 volumes and included valuable historical books from Holland and Germany, as well as several hundred volumes of bound Mennonite periodicals in English, German, and Dutch.